


Smile

by thegizka



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:15:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25695658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegizka/pseuds/thegizka
Summary: Hitsugaya takes particular notice of one of the flower shop's regular customers.  It turns out she's taken notice of him as well.Written for Writer's Month 2020 Day 1:  Flower Shop AU.Note:  I do not own any aspect of Bleach.
Relationships: Hitsugaya Toushirou & Kurosaki Karin, Hitsugaya Toushirou/Kurosaki Karin, Kurosaki Karin & Kurosaki Yuzu
Comments: 2
Kudos: 42
Collections: Writer's Month 2020





	Smile

The first time Hitsugaya saw her was his third day on the job. She came into the shop with her sister to pick up an order under the name Kurosaki--lilies and ferns and pink camellias with sprigs of baby’s breath. There was a note to cut them to fit a grave’s vase, so he snipped the stems and wrapped the tips in a damp paper towel before handing them over. The sisters paid and thanked him. He met her eyes briefly as she turned to go but thought nothing of it. She was just one of a sea of customers.

A few months later, the sisters returned to pick up another order. The blonde wandered around the shop for a bit, her sister trailing behind her. Hitsugaya was on the other side of the store inspecting some arrangements for wilting. He saw the blonde stop and smell a chrysanthemum before saying something to her sister who shrugged and said something in reply which caused her to frown. They picked up their order from Matsumoto and left.

In another few months, she came in by herself. She barely glanced around before heading to the counter.

“Pickup for Kurosaki please.”

“Sure, one moment.” Hitsugaya turned to the shelves of orders, scanning the names until he found Kurosaki. The bouquet included some zinnias instead of lilies this month.

“Do you need this trimmed?”

“Please.” She stood with her arms crossed, leaning her weight on one leg like someone who was used to moving, not waiting. She struck him as a person who didn’t fare well in idleness.

“You’re not with your sister today.” Hitsugaya wasn’t normally one for small talk, but Matsumoto kept telling him facilitating an enjoyable experience was part of customer services.

“She has to help our father with an emergency, so I’m running the errands today.”

“It’s not a serious emergency, I hope.”

“No, not really.” She exchanged payment for the bouquet. “Thanks,” she said and left.

A few weeks later, he saw her on his day off. Ever since he had moved away from Momo and Grandma (she wasn’t really his grandma, but he had nothing else to call her), he had taken to walking around Karakura Town on his own. He didn’t enjoy staying in his tiny apartment alone. It was too quiet.

Matsumoto had decided to take him under her wing, which was nice, but she was loud and bold where he was quiet and calculating. Sometimes her company was too much. Besides, they didn’t always have the same days off, which left him frequently alone with his thoughts and memories.

On those days, he’d wander Karakura Town, partially to get to know his new home and partially to distract himself. It was a strange new place. The town charaded as an average residence with a decently sized shopping district, a school, and a hospital on the outskirts. Hitsugaya was noticing a lot of quirks, though. The residents were pretty eccentric, and there was a higher than average amount of accidents. He couldn’t decide if there was something greater at work or this town just had bad luck.

He was walking along the river when he saw her. She was on the other side where the bank was wider. He’d seen kids playing on the swaths of grass and couples picnicking there. She wasn’t alone when he spotted her. Her sister was sitting further up the embankment watching while she and an older boy with orange hair kicked a soccer ball. Hitsugaya had never played soccer, but he could tell just by observing that she was good. She had control of the ball and excellent balance. The guy she was with had fast reflexes, but his movement indicated he didn’t usually use them for soccer. He was chasing after the ball more often than he was guiding it.

Hitsugaya stopped in his walk and watched them for a while. He found their interactions fascinating. Whenever her opponent missed, rather than be triumphant, she appeared to berate him as though he wasn’t taking it seriously enough for her. She always seemed so disinterested in the shop that this passion was intriguing. She was expressive and energetic. When she kicked the ball into the boy’s chest hard enough to make him stumble, she laughed. Her sister got up and went to the boy with concern, but she went after the soccer ball. When she rejoined the others, the boy ruffled her hair without a sign of anger or resentment. She pushed him away with long-suffering annoyance.

He found his thoughts turning to Momo. Their interactions had never been this natural or energetic. He wondered if that was because they weren’t blood-related. He could tell from the shape of their faces that the orange-haired guy was most likely their brother. As they gathered their things to leave the riverbank, the boy kept a careful eye on his sisters, walking half a step behind them to keep them in sight. Hitsugaya wondered if that was instinctual. He wondered if Momo had ever done the same with him.

For Hitsugaya, their interactions had always been distant and calculated. It was hard to pretend to trust after experiencing life alone for so long. He had never adjusted his walking pace to match Momo’s or felt any form of fondness when she called him Shiro-chan. But he couldn’t deny that he cared that she had been around for him. She had kept an eye on him even when he forgot to keep her in sight. He recognized that this gave him no right to consider her move away to college a betrayal, but the emptiness and regret he had felt had driven him to move away on his own. The maturity he had gained helped him see how foolish of a boy he had been.

The Kurosakis had long left the opposite bank, and Hitsugaya bade his feet continue walking. He redirected his thoughts to designing a new flower arrangement. It would feature peach blossoms and forget-me-nots.

The next time they met, she caught him off guard.

“Do you like working here?”

He paused in his trimming to look at her.

“Karin,” her sister scolded, “that’s rude!”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“I’ve been in here a dozen times since you started working, and you’re never smiling. Why do you work here if you don’t like it?”

“Karin!”

“There are more important things than enjoying my work,” he replied, finishing the preparation of their bouquet.

“That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. Pleasure and responsibility aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“I take pride in my work.”

“You’re dodging my question.”

“Karin!” Her sister looked furious. “We have to go. I’m very sorry.” She bowed to him. “Thank you for the flowers.”

He watched them leave, whispering and bickering together. Why did she seem to care so much about his answer? Not smiling didn’t mean he hated it here. He rarely smiled at anything. He was a little surprised she had noticed.

Two days later, Karin came back to the shop. She wasn’t picking up an order; Hitsugaya noticed every time a bundle was set aside for Kurosaki, and there hadn’t been anything on the pickup shelf that morning. He was assembling a new arrangement at the work table near the back of the store. She wandered between displays, periodically pausing to inspect a flower, but she seemed disinterested and unsure. Matsumoto was busy helping another customer, so Hitsugaya approached her.

“Hi,” he greeted. “Can I help you find something?”

“Oh, hi.” She seemed started. “I was just looking for something for my sister.”

“Did she tell you what she wanted?”

“No,” she sighed. “She doesn’t know I’m here. I messed up, and Yuzu’s really mad at me, so I figured I’d get some flowers to apologize.”

“Ah.” He briefly wondered what rift between the sisters warranted flowers, but it wasn’t his business.

“She understands a lot more about this than I do,” Karin mumbled, twirling the stem of a lily gently before putting it back. “All I see are flowers, but she gets the meanings behind them and knows what care they need to last longer. It makes her extremely difficult to shop for.”

“Not many people know the language of flowers nowadays.”

“Do you?” She looked at him with genuine curiosity. For a moment, he had her full attention, and it sent a pleasant shiver down his spine.

“Sorry, dumb question,” she said, looking away quickly. “It’s probably a requirement for your job.”

“It’s not, but I did learn it.”

“Then do you know of any good apology flowers?”

“Sure.”

She looked at him with relief and expectation.

“Just get her flowers she likes.”

“Seriously? I thought you’d point to something and say ‘This means I’m sorry, please forgive me’ and I’d be good to go.”

“I’ve never come across a single flower that says all of that,” he replied, his bemusement bringing a slight grin to his face. Karin blinked before grinning herself.

“That’s because flowers don’t really speak, dummy.” She shook her head, possibly to hide the hint of color in her cheeks that accompanied her lame joke. “Get her flowers she likes? Hmm.”

She wandered the aisles, and Hitsugaya followed, offering suggestions and advice when she seemed unsure. They collected sunflowers and pink carnations, lilies of the valley and white daisies. He chose some foliage to fill out the bouquet and highlight the blossoms. She browsed the ribbons while he trimmed the stems and finalized the arrangement at the work table.

“Thank you,” Karin said, running a strip of ribbon between her fingers. “I was totally lost in here on my own.”

“You’re welcome.” He tied the yellow ribbon she had picked out around the stems, finishing it with a bow.

“Did you do this?” she asked, indicating the arrangement he had been working on when she entered.

“I did.”

“I like it.” She leaned down to sniff one of the flowers. “I recognize the daffodils, but what are these purple ones?”

“Salvia.”

“They work nicely together. You have a good eye.”

He wanted to tell her it was just part of his job, but his usual blunt reply died on his lips.

“Thanks.”

They looked at each other for an indecipherable moment before he thrust the bouquet at her.

“Thank you again,” she said as she handed him payment. “I think Yuzu will like these.”

“Is it enough for her to forgive you?”

“Oh yeah. She doesn’t stay mad for very long. And if she’s not satisfied, I’ll just come back and buy some more.”

“I’ll brainstorm some other combinations just in case.”

“Thanks for your confidence in me,” she snorted, but there was a grin on her face. “See you later.”

Hitsugaya watched her leave. A little part of him hoped he’d see her again soon.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not really satisfied with this fic, but I usually have difficulty writing AUs. If you read it all the way through, thank you!


End file.
